Like simcity, you have to build a city. Pay attetion to the living quarters, power plants, oxigen facilities, labs, etc.
Unlike simcity, there are hostile aliens so build up your defence with laser turrets, tanks, hover tanks, airships, mines, etc.
Your income is based on tax and exports. To produce fuel and ore you have to go to map mode and search the resources tiles.
Your goal is to improve the QOL (Quality of life) to 100% (100% QOL = Utopia). The game can get boring later, because 100% of QOL is not easy to achieve.